I am not too thrilled about driving in Texas but Texas sure knows
how to put on an ultra marathon.
I finished my first ultra marathon at the 19th annual Sunmart
Texas Trail Endurance Runs 50k/50-mile race in the beautiful Piney
Woods of the Sam Houston National Forest at Huntsville State Park.
We drove to Houston on Friday where we were treated to an
awesome pasta dinner and was given our timing chips, race numbers
and a travel/duffle bag of goodies such as a shirt, hat, camera,
sunglasses, rain gear, mesh backpack, desk planner, etc.
Then we drove to Huntsville to sleep for the night.
Saturday morning at the park we were given a pre-race breakfast
of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, juice, coffee plus other
items.
Then off went the 50 mile runners. Forty-five minutes later it was
our turn, the 50k (that's 31 miles) runners to start. Ken Childress,
his wife Dana, Bob Lovelace and I decided to stick together for the
duration of the run to support each other. Off we went into the
woods for our first loop of 6.7 miles. We returned to the start area
where we refueled, rehydrated and took potty breaks. Then we
were off for our first of two 12.15 mile loops around Lake Raven.
Every two to four miles we had the best aid stations where they
had plenty of food, water and sports drink. Every aid station had
porta Johns (thank goodness we didn't have to keep sneaking off
into the woods).
As we tired, Ken and Bob had to keep motivating Dana and I to
keep on moving to try to reach a specific goal we had. Dana and
I kept telling each other that we was going to throw Ken into the
lake and make him gater bait. Rumor is that there is alligators
around.
At the finish line everyone that had finished ahead of us were
waiting for us and cheered us on. What an awesome group of
friends. Bob had to finish a little ahead of us because of some
pains he was having. Ken, Dana and I crossed the finish line
together. We were awarded our finisher's medals and given a
finisher's jacket. Thank you Bob, Ken and Dana. It was pleasant
enduring this run together.
Food was waiting to be eaten after the finish consisting of
hotdogs, burgers, barbecue, potato salad, coleslaw and the best
macaroni and cheese on the planet. I like to eat.
After the race we returned to our rooms to watch the OU game.
After Susan and I knew OU had this one we decided to meet up
with about 15 of the TATUR's at a Mexican restaurant where we
had a nice pre-bedtime dinner. Way to go Sooners. We didn't go
around bragging because remember we are in Texas.
Sunday morning it was time to pack it in and head for the house.
I thought I would have a miserable ride back in the car, but to
my surprise it went pretty well. I was stiff every time we stopped
along the way, but no pain while driving.
Yes Coach Kathy, I will do another ultra.
100 miles? No! 50 miles? Maybe.
Hey man, got any vespa?
Yuck! Sweaty Bobby.
Thank you Texaco and Chevron for the fuel.
One of the trails.
Duh, start line.
Ken, Roman, Bobby, Susan.
Bobby, Dana, Ken.
Bobby, Jenni, Jeff, Lisa, Jason.
Coach Kathy Hoover.
Roman Broyles.
Dana and Ken Childress.
Bobby and lovely wife Susan.
Bobby pre-race.
Bobby after race.
Bobby, Dana, Ken coming into the finish.
Bob Lovelace coming into the finish.
Lake Raven pre-race.
Post race. I like to eat.
For more of the story and more pictures go here:
how to put on an ultra marathon.
I finished my first ultra marathon at the 19th annual Sunmart
Texas Trail Endurance Runs 50k/50-mile race in the beautiful Piney
Woods of the Sam Houston National Forest at Huntsville State Park.
We drove to Houston on Friday where we were treated to an
awesome pasta dinner and was given our timing chips, race numbers
and a travel/duffle bag of goodies such as a shirt, hat, camera,
sunglasses, rain gear, mesh backpack, desk planner, etc.
Then we drove to Huntsville to sleep for the night.
Saturday morning at the park we were given a pre-race breakfast
of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, juice, coffee plus other
items.
Then off went the 50 mile runners. Forty-five minutes later it was
our turn, the 50k (that's 31 miles) runners to start. Ken Childress,
his wife Dana, Bob Lovelace and I decided to stick together for the
duration of the run to support each other. Off we went into the
woods for our first loop of 6.7 miles. We returned to the start area
where we refueled, rehydrated and took potty breaks. Then we
were off for our first of two 12.15 mile loops around Lake Raven.
Every two to four miles we had the best aid stations where they
had plenty of food, water and sports drink. Every aid station had
porta Johns (thank goodness we didn't have to keep sneaking off
into the woods).
As we tired, Ken and Bob had to keep motivating Dana and I to
keep on moving to try to reach a specific goal we had. Dana and
I kept telling each other that we was going to throw Ken into the
lake and make him gater bait. Rumor is that there is alligators
around.
At the finish line everyone that had finished ahead of us were
waiting for us and cheered us on. What an awesome group of
friends. Bob had to finish a little ahead of us because of some
pains he was having. Ken, Dana and I crossed the finish line
together. We were awarded our finisher's medals and given a
finisher's jacket. Thank you Bob, Ken and Dana. It was pleasant
enduring this run together.
Food was waiting to be eaten after the finish consisting of
hotdogs, burgers, barbecue, potato salad, coleslaw and the best
macaroni and cheese on the planet. I like to eat.
After the race we returned to our rooms to watch the OU game.
After Susan and I knew OU had this one we decided to meet up
with about 15 of the TATUR's at a Mexican restaurant where we
had a nice pre-bedtime dinner. Way to go Sooners. We didn't go
around bragging because remember we are in Texas.
Sunday morning it was time to pack it in and head for the house.
I thought I would have a miserable ride back in the car, but to
my surprise it went pretty well. I was stiff every time we stopped
along the way, but no pain while driving.
Yes Coach Kathy, I will do another ultra.
100 miles? No! 50 miles? Maybe.
Hey man, got any vespa?
Yuck! Sweaty Bobby.
Thank you Texaco and Chevron for the fuel.
One of the trails.
Duh, start line.
Ken, Roman, Bobby, Susan.
Bobby, Dana, Ken.
Bobby, Jenni, Jeff, Lisa, Jason.
Coach Kathy Hoover.
Roman Broyles.
Dana and Ken Childress.
Bobby and lovely wife Susan.
Bobby pre-race.
Bobby after race.
Bobby, Dana, Ken coming into the finish.
Bob Lovelace coming into the finish.
Lake Raven pre-race.
Post race. I like to eat.
For more of the story and more pictures go here:
8 comments:
Great post Bobby! I am ULTRA proud of you. You did awesome! Can you believe we just did this? WOW! How are you feeling? I am surprisingly ok. Sore but ok. I am looking forward to my next oreo with peanut butter with M&Ms. :) Yummy! See you soon! BTW, what an adventure to get you some Vespa!
Bobby, thanks for hanging in there with me.....you did an awesome job great report, great time. Hope to run with you again. Probably but stay away from the swoop lands...especially if Kennys trying to get us through a 50 miler...lol. Thanks to Susan for watching after John for us.
Dana
Woo Hoo!!! Ya did great Brother! Enjoy the next few weeks, enjoy every run. No need for any long stuff for a while. But let's do it again in the spring!!!
Congratulations!!
Look at you go!! I can remember the days when you didn't think you could do a half-marathon, and now you're doing ULTRA-marathons!
Way to go!!
Bobby,
That's so awesome and I'm so proud of you. I wish that I could run that far! You must be so proud of yourself. Keep on bookin' it! :)
Way to go! Man I'm impressed. 50K is a long way
I still have a feeling that some day we will do a 100 miler...because Kathy and TZ are addicts that tend to rub off on others! I'm so proud of you...I can't wait to rejoin the crazy long distance runners....soon...very soon!
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